Europe

KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — Dr. Oleh Duda, a cancer surgeon at a hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, was in the middle of a complicated, dangerous surgery when he heard explosions nearby. Moments later, the lights went out.

Duda had no choice but to keep working with only a headlamp for light. The lights came back when a generator kicked in three minutes later, but it felt like an eternity.

“These fateful minutes could have cost the patient his life,” Duda told The Associated Press.

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/: Breaches of safety rules were documented in high-security laboratories at universities of Washington, Minnesota and Illinois, Chief of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said on Saturday ahead of the Ninth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/: NATO drones made attempts to cross the border of the Pskov Region of Russia even before the start of the special military operation, Governor of the Region Mikhail Vedernikov said.

"We have never provided extensive coverage to that but there were attempts of military unmanned aerial vehicles and other aircraft to illegally cross the border," Vedernikov said.

MOSCOW, November 27./TASS/: Early in December, the State Duma will adopt the decision to ban the services of surrogate mothers in Russia for foreign nationals, lower house’s Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday.

"Surrogacy for foreign nationals should be banned. <...> It is necessary to do everything to protect children by not allowing foreigners to use the services of surrogacy. We will make this decision in early December," he blogged.

MOSCOW, November 27./TASS/: Russian forces have destroyed six command posts of Ukrainian troops in the Kherson and Kharkov regions, as well as in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing on Sunday.

"Six command posts of the enemy were destroyed in the area of the settlements of Sadovoye, Dudchany and Zolotaya Balka in the Kherson region, Yampol in the DPR as well as Kislovka in the Kharkov region," along with 62 artillery units in firing positions, manpower and military hardware in 137 regions," the spokesman said.

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/: The European Parliament’s resolution recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism is not legally binding, Moscow does not take such decisions to heart, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program on Rossiya-1 TV channel on Sunday.

MOSCOW, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Sunday said attempts to break up a Russian-led security alliance had always existed and would continue to do so, but insisted that the alliance remained in high demand following criticism this week from Armenia.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called into question the effectiveness of the six-nation Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) at a summit this week.

MINSK, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Belarusian Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that Minister Vladimir Makei has died suddenly at the age of 64.

Spokesman Anatoly Glaz made the announcement without providing further details.

Makei had held the post since 2012. Before that, he served as an aide to President Alexander Lukashenko and the president's chief of staff.

Lukashenko offered his condolences to Makei's family, according to the presidential office.

Makei was scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Minsk on Monday.

MILAN (AP) — Search teams pulled the body of a young girl from her family home on Sunday as they dug through mud for a second day in the search for people still missing after an enormous landslide on the Italian resort island of Ischia.

The Naples prefect confirmed that the death toll in the tragedy had risen to two, following also the recovery of the body of a 31-year-old woman from the island on Saturday.

A further 10 people remained missing in the port town of Casamicciola, feared buried under mud and debris.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany and France pledged Friday to provide each other mutual support in preventing a possible energy crisis after supplies from Russia dried up amid the war in Ukraine.

As part of a joint agreement signed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Germany will provide France with electricity while getting much-needed natural gas in return.

“Friends help each other in need,” Scholz said after the signing ceremony in Berlin.